Yesterday the Glass Doctor guy came to my place to replace the cracked windshield. He left with my old cracked shield and I was left with none.

Reason: The PO had put silicone sealant around the rubber gasket. That trapped the moisture behind the seal. Result - RUST. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" /> Had some rust through in the corners and a couple other spots. Now I have to repair that mess. How common is it to have that gasket start to leak such that someone would think they needed to add sealant.

No sheet metal rust anywhere else on the rig. Vehicle originally a central CA rig.

Started grinding away the rust spots last night. Going to get to use my limited sheet metal patching skills as there are some holes there for sure!

Happened to me on my first Raider, too. I had applied clear silicone to keep the thing from leaking in on the passenger side. Luckily, mine didn't get to the stage that the metal needed patching, but the glass guy did apply that POR stuff on the metal after we cleaned it up a bit.

It does seem that a few others have complained about leaks there as well.

John B.

If there is anything to be learned here guys and gals I guess it is to not use silicone where rubber meets sheet metal. The glass man said silicone actually is a rust promoter when in contact with steel! Additionally that moisture needs to be able to escape as water vapor when it gets the sun on it.

Actually My truck has that problem. Event thought it looks good still.

What's the solution? Break your windshield so the insurance company replaces it, along with the seal? Ultimately, that's what did it for me. Gotta thank that tree branch!

John B.

My generation 1 did it badly with water building up in the driver's side floor board. My gen 11 is now leaking after a glass company replaced a cracked windshield.

Shoot, that makes me nervous. I have this "spot" under the A pillar.. soon after this pic, I used flowing silicone because if I parked facing down hill, even slightly, the morning dew would drip in.

My series 1 is left hand drive, and has a leak in the upper passenger corner of the windshield. The water tends to quickly run in when I go around a corner rather than drip or run when standing or moving in a straight line. No rust showing. Luckily there's an 8 month "dry season" here with no rain at all... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well I started the sheet metal repairs. Cutting out the bad areas and welding in patches. I'm finding welding sheet metal to be quite a challenge. Getting the wire feed and voltage just right is tricky! Read a few tips online tonight so maybe tomorrows attempts will go better.

Yep my Raider leaked pretty good also on the driver side. I had a windshield place try 3 times to get it to seal but I ended up just using clear silicon to stop it.